Employees are an integral part of any organization. They have a key role to play in the success of any organization as they contribute effectively towards the accomplishment of goals. They truly are an asset, and employers should value their employees and put their trust in them in order to ensure the successful functioning of the company.

However, unfortunately, sometimes trusting employees immensely can be detrimental to the organization itself. This is much likely to happen in larger organizations, with a large pool of team members. This greatly increases the chances of an employee to breach or leak the data outside the company’s premises.

The employee may do so as vengeance or dissatisfaction from the company or employer. Their personal issues lead them to retaliate against the company, instigating them to use their power against the company and cause potential harm.

It is imperative for organizations to ensure the privacy and security of the businesses and customers, and their information. For this to be done, it is vital to invest in security resources. But, at the same time, it is also true that these organizations, be it small businesses, big corporations or public institutions, often become the target of hacks and leaks. In many incidents of a data breach, a malicious insider is responsible for maltreating the information they had access to.

In today’s day and age, protection of private information is vital for the wellbeing of a business to avoid becoming prey to any data breaches or malware infecting the system, since viruses like ransomware require huge amounts of money to be paid.

Let’s explore a list of ways that you can implement to secure your data from the entire staff:

Firstly, limit the level of access to data only to the employees and company stakeholders who need it for the operations of the company.  Regrettably, you cannot trust all your employees, regardless of their position in the company. Many workers have access to much more information than required, and sometimes, they might intentionally or unintentionally end up leaking data – may be as simple as login details. But, to the employer this is a huge deal since an outsider now has confidential information about the company, thereby increasing the chances of probable hacks and malware to infect the system.

The staff should be made aware of the possible ways a malware might try to infect the system, or a hacker might try to encrypt the data. They should be warned about spam emails and infected website links that may cause viruses such as ransomware to enter the system and invade it. Ransomware removal itself is an excruciating task. You also need to give strict measures to your staff on sharing sensitive information outside the premises as companies do realize the potential threats these data breaches are capable of causing.

Another way to protect your data from breaches is by encrypting it, with access only in the owner’s hands. This way, you can open it whenever you want, and it significantly reduces the chances of a hacker accessing it if they’re able to get in the system.

Backup! The most crucial key to securing data on any software is to create a backup. It is extremely imperative to make regular backups of all your data. You wouldn’t want to lose all your data to hackers, so backup your databases to keep your information secured. It is best to do so on an external, physical drive, making multiple iterations that can also be uploaded on another system. However, uploading secure and confidential data on an online, cloud-based drive is not the most efficient approach since digital storage is more vulnerable to hacking.

Installing tracking software to workplace computers is essential to ensure the safety of the data. This provides warrants of any forbidden actions that an employee may take to compromise the privacy or break the security policy. Once the system is encrypted with such viruses or malware, ransomware removal requires a lot of effort. This security measure not just prevents mistakes from happening but also enables the employer to identify the culprit in such a case.

Being a professional organization, it is imperative that employers keep their employees connected together and provide them with fringe benefits in order to keep them satisfied and stop them from developing feelings of revenge.

However, at the same time, it is crucial to maintain a certain degree of the company’s privacy from the employees so that the data remains secured and the threat of any breach is minimized.

To be stuck in a ransomware situation is one of the worst things management of any company can be faced with. It is one of the easiest and quickest ways to rack in money from the victims. While all the big corporates are investing tremendously in cybersecurity. Ransomware still remains a potential threat at large. That is feared by many companies and corporations in this ever so fast-growing cyber world. With the first instances appearing in the year 2005, more than $11 billion has been lost through ransomware so far.

Better be safe than sorry – in case of any unfortunate event. The following is a list of decisions that must be taken by the company management in order to handle the ransomware situation.

Find the root & filter it

There are many ways someone can infect your system. Two of the most common ways, however, include a link or an email attachment. As soon as you open them, you’re faced with a message demanding ransom. At this point, all the files and data on your system are at risk of loss. So, in a situation like that, it is vital to find a particular device that is infected. Depending upon your system, you can filter out the particular infected device and disconnect it from other devices in the system. So that the infection does not spread to other devices and no more crucial data is at risk.

Reach out to the concerned authorities

The incidents of ransomware have gradually increased. Companies today are aware of the sensitivity of ransomware situations, which is why many companies house special IT teams, especially for such situations. When hit with a ransomware attack, alert the concerned authorities immediately. Smaller companies that house no security IT teams, must immediately report the incident to the cybercrime.

Search for decryption tools

In some cases, the ransomware removal can be done by using the decryption tools if you are aware of the type of ransomware.

Take a decision

If none of the above works, you are faced with a decision whether to pay up or lose all your files. While it is suggested not to pay up since it further brings ransomware into the limelight as the easiest way to make quick money. The decision, however, lies greatly on how important the information is for you. If it is crucial, paying up a few hundred dollars may seem like a sensible idea. But if the information on the device does not mean much to you, feel free to ignore the message and reinstall the entire operating system.

Run an antivirus program

Once you’re done with your effort for ransomware removal, run an antivirus on the device. This will help go through each file present on the system and detect if it poses a threat to your device. Much of the cyberattack clues are found in the metadata. A good anti-malware program will immediately alert you if something fishy is detected.